My Trainer Road FTP is estimated at 225. I would obviously like to increase this number. I understand that my workouts are designed based on percentages of what my current FTP is. Would it be counter productive to manually change my FTP to a number more like 235, or would I benefit more by following workouts based on my 225 FTP?
So obviously you are on to the idea that if you raise your FTP, the intensity of all your workouts will increase.
So, if we assume that whatever trainer road plan you were following was written by the Omniscient Inerrant Coach, then they would be perfect, and any modification of them would make them worse, so you shouldn’t change your FTP.
If on the other hand, the workouts were prescribing a an intensity universally a bit low in intensity from optimum, then faking your FTP a bit higher would be good. If you have some reason to believe this is the case, go for it.
For what it is worth, assuming your FTP is accurate, you sure as hell don’t want to increase if artificially when doing Sufferfest video worksouts. I can’t speak to the other plans.
Raising your FTP isn’t some kind of specific magic. It is just getting better at biking. Any biking you do will help with this. Progressive overload, consistent training, more is more, and all that.
My Trainer Road FTP is estimated at 225. I would obviously like to increase this number. I understand that my workouts are designed based on percentages of what my current FTP is. Would it be counter productive to manually change my FTP to a number more like 235, or would I benefit more by following workouts based on my 225 FTP?
It depends on the workouts. In general, spending time training at FTP + or - 10% will raise your FTP. Training consistently is the 90% solution.
I find that most of the Trainerroad workouts are plenty intense enough for me using my “correct” FTP. Especially considering run and swim volume adding to my fatigue. If workouts are starting to seem too easy there isn’t anything wrong with dialing up your FTP a couple watts or just retesting, but I don’t think preemtively raising the number would result in anything but a flameout a few weeks down the road. Most of the training plans seem well designed to provide the right amount of training stress and recovery. I wouldn’t mess with it much.
Bottom left you can raise or lower the IF of the workout by %
Try raising that slightly and see how you do, if you are hanging in there then retest and see if you need to raise the FTP.
I was coming back from an injury and mentally could not get myself to go in and lower my FTP, so I did a week at 80%, week at 85%, etc etc until I could do them at 100% again for a week or two based on my old FTP then retested.
While I completely get where you’re coming from with this, I’d advise against it. By essentially making every workout harder, you’re removing the “structure” from your structured training. Remember, structured training isn’t about just going hard every single day. Coach Chad, our USA Cycling Level 1 coach who designs our workouts and training plans, takes a lot into consideration when designing a plan. Whether you’re in the Base, Build, or Speciality phase of you’re training, doing the workouts at your true FTP will yield the most benefit in the long run.
With that being said, if you’re fairly new to the sport, I’d recommend testing more often. You may see FTP increases every 3-4 weeks and staying on top of your increasing threshold will ensure you get the most out of every workout.